What Did You Do?
May 11, 2010 at 9:28 am
In years to come, when economic historians look back on this period and our children are still paying for the mistakes and excess of recent years, what will you say when you’re asked “what did you do?”
“I was too busy working to pay an exorbitant mortgage. In those days we were glad to have a job…”
-Nobody forced you to take out a mortgage you couldn’t afford. True you had to work, but in this age of connectivity you have choices and options in getting your voice heard. The good news is this evening, a sunny May Tuesday when, let’s face it, there’s nothing on the telly – you can get out and protest the old fashioned way. Head to the Garden of Remembrance at 7.30pm and add your voice to the crowd who will be there to be make a stand and express dissatisfaction with the way things are being handled.
I’m going because it’s not just a Trade Union / Socialist Workers Gig.
Speakers include:
- Fintan O’Toole (Journalist)
- John Kidd (SIPTU Firefighters)
- Janette Byrne (Patients Together)
- Walter Cullen (Unite trade union)
- John Bisset (Canal Communities Project)
- Professor Kathleen Lynch (UCD)
- Siobhan O ’Donoghue (Community Workers Co-op)
I feel very strongly that the Government is bailing out the banks and not dedicating the same resource to making sure that businesses get looked after in the same way. Weren’t we all led to believe after the first bank bailout in Sept 2008 that banks were open for business and would keep lending? Yeah right! I know of many businesses who are on the rocks because they cannot get finance to keep afloat. My own brother who is a true entrepreneur is unable to continue expanding his operation which employs close to 50 peoeple – because he can’t get the banks to match his own investment in his enterprise. And sadly, we’ve all heard the shocking statistics of small businesses closing. These aren’t just numbers – these are people’s sweat and hard work – gone in a moment because there is no-one willing to help them.
Ireland got praised yesterday for being ahead of Spain and Portugal in terms of the austerity measures taken in Budget 2010. But the truth is that Budget was an anti-youth budget. The very strong message I heard was if you’re under 25, and without a job, feck off because we don’t want ya. We’re about to engage in a truly horrible social experiment. One in which we’ve seen working class areas transformed through employment these last years. Young fellas had bright futures as carpenters, plasterers, plumbers. They jumped at the opportunity and worked hard. Now that’s all come crashing down and the next generation is facing the same old shit that’s been available for time immemorial – unemployment or emigrate.
I finished college in 1993 when there weren’t really that many jobs. At least we had the option of going to the bright lights of London or New York. I chose the former and made my way there. Today’s graduates have no such choices – they’ve been hauling themselves through college while the Celtic Tiger has been dying around them… and now they don’t even have the safety net of London or New York to go to. I’d hate to be 22 again….
Yet my niece of 25 says she’d hate to be my age … because we all jumped into the property market and have mortgages around our necks.
We’re all sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves and each other. We’re happy to moan about what’s happening, being forced to do more with less in our jobs and our lives. Well tonight at 7.30pm you can join a bunch of like-minded people who want to show that they are not happy with what’s going on. I’ll be there – I’m the one with the bump!
